One Wild Cowboy Read Free Page B

direction of her outraged brothers. “I’m not sure there are words that would ever adequately explain this situation,” he said.
    â€œYou’ve got that right,” Emily concurred. “Besides, we should get a move on. We have to go back to the café and pick up the rest of the desserts for the buffet.” She dropped her grip on his sleeve, clasped his hand in hers and tugged Dylan away from her still-scowling, perplexed brothers. “See you later, guys!” She tossed the dismissive words over her shoulder.
    Seconds later, Dylan felt Emily begin to disengage her hand from his.
    Loath to let her go—because that would have meant he was letting her call all the shots, which was not a good precedent to set—Dylan held tight.
    She turned, flashed a smile that did not reach her pretty eyes and then whirled around and kept going.
    Half a block of historic downtown buildings later, she had unlocked the front door to the Daybreak Café, stormed inside and shut the door behind them. Still fuming, she promptly wrested her hands from his. “All right, cowboy!” she snapped, pausing only to give him a long, withering glare. “You have one heck of a lot of explaining to do!”
    Â 
    E MILY EXPECTED an apology. It was, after all, the only decent thing to do, given the outlandishly passionate way Dylan had just kissed her. In front of an audience of her family and countless others, no less!
    â€œHey.” Dylan mocked her impudently. “I’m not the one still claiming to have a date with a person who’s already rejected me!”
    Indignation warmed Emily’s cheeks. “Claim what you like, cowboy, if it soothes your ruffled feelings, but there was nothing ‘rejecting’ about that kiss you just gave me.”
    â€œI never said I didn’t desire you,” Dylan volleyed back in a low, rich voice that practically oozed testosterone.
    He was acting as if their madcap embrace was a good thing. “How dare you, anyway!”
    He stepped forward and further invaded her space. “How dare you?”
    With effort, Emily ignored the sexual tremors starting deep inside her. Determined to get command of a situation that was fast escalating out of control, she extended her index finger and tapped him on the center of his rock-solid chest. “Let’s getsomething straight, Dylan.” She waited until she was certain she had his full attention. “My request for help did not include anything sexual.”
    He winked at her facetiously. “Too bad, ’cause if it had, I might have said yes.”
    Emily curtailed the urge to deck him for that remark. She didn’t know what he was up to now, but she did not like it one bit. “Furthermore, you are incredibly ill-mannered.”
    â€œNever claimed to be otherwise,” Dylan said with a careless shrug.
    Emily arched her eyebrows and ignored his pronouncement. “And you owe me an apology for that kiss.”
    â€œYou owe me an apology for that kiss!” he countered just as emphatically, even as her knees grew weaker still.
    â€œReally.” She lifted her chin, drew a deep breath. “Really?”
    Dylan looked at her as if he already knew what it felt like to make love to her. “You bet your hot temper you do!”
    â€œListen, cowboy, I did not start that!”
    He moved closer, once again towering over her. “You sure continued it enthusiastically though, didn’t you?”
    Darned if he hadn’t made her flush all over again.
    Emily’s spine stiffened. “Only because I didn’t want to make my brothers suspicious,” she retorted, hanging on to her composure by a thread.
    â€œYeah, well,” he pointed out glibly, “you sure failed on that count.”
    Emily blinked. “Are you kidding? They thought our embrace was so genuinely hot they wanted to punch you out.”
    And whether Dylan wanted to admit it or not, their clinch